“Mr Giaka, you are a liar, aren t you? Mr Giaka, you tell big lies and you tell small lies, but you lie, do you not?”

Richard Keen QC [1]

On August 10 1988, Abdul Majid Giaka contacted the US embassy in Malta. Giaka was interviewed by a CIA agent to whom he told that he was a member of the Libyan Intelligence Service. A decade later, Giaka will appear at the Zeist trial and testify that two of his former colleagues had planted the bomb that destroyed Pan Am 103.

Giaka initially described himself as a high-ranking member of the JSO, having a good relationship with the head of the organization. In truth, Giaka was working in the civilian branch as a mechanic and car painter.

Giaka told his CIA handler that he wanted to defect to America because he was disgusted by the terrorist activities of the JSO. The truth is slightly less noble. Giaka was a gambler, small time smuggler and well know womanizer. But in the summer of 1988, he harassed a well-connected Egyptian woman and was summoned to return to Tripoli on the first flight available. Giaka understood that he was in trouble and decided to play the American card.

The CIA cables regarding Giaka allegations are hilarious. Giaka claimed that he was a relative of the late King Idris. The statement is false. He also alleged that Colonel Gadafi was a freemason. The Libyan foreign minister and the President of Malta were also involved in a Masonic conspiracy.

When asked how he had discovered this conspiracy by Keen, he replied that he could not tell for security reason. After a short break, he returned to the Court and told Keen that he had never made these allegations.

When challenged to establish his longstanding relationship with Senussi, the head of Libyan Intelligence, Giaka replied that he never said such a thing and blamed it on poor translation.

The most serious allegation against the accused was that Giaka claimed that he had seen them on December 20 at Luqa airport bringing from Tripoli a Samsonite luggage identical to the one in which the bomb that destroyed Pan Am 103 was hidden.

However, a CIA cable reveals that during the afternoon of December 20, Giaka was reporting to his CIA handler. The cable sent on December 21 makes no mention whatsoever of this.

“The most important witness in the Lockerbie trial was systematically torn to pieces,” the New York Times reported following his testimony.

Compensation for the victims of the USS Vincennes

Pleading for Congress to reach over the wall of hatred between Iran and the United States, Nahid urges the lawmaker to compensate the families of those shot down in the Iranian airliner by the U.S.S. Vincennes. Sadeghi, a resident of Norman Oklahoma, is the sister-in-law of the pilot of Iran Flight 665.

”They are human beings which became widows and orphans, not terrorists who kill and maim. They are like you and me and our neighbors. They are not our enemies,’’ Sadeghi said.

During the House Armed Services Committee hearing, all members criticized the idea of compensation. This is after all an election year and politicians could hardly ignore the fact that three Americans out of five are opposed the payment of compensation to Iranians.